The Second Bite of the Apple

Final Project: [I submitted my final project at July 24 at 10:52 p.m. Central time.]

Step 1: Selection

For my text, I decided to delve into Sherwood Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio” focusing on Rev. Curtis Hartman and Kate Swift, the key players in the story, “The Strength of God.”

I loved the challenge of telling a story of a conflicted reverend tempted by an unsuspecting young woman, strictly through visuals. This is ultimately a story about two lonely people trying to make some sort of connection. And when you mix religion and self-doubt, you have the ingredients for some Grade-A conflict.

When a respected pastor spies on a young woman, he unwillingly engages in a personal crisis of faith.

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Good evening, y’all.

It may seem like I’m a bit late to this online party, but I can assure you I’ve spent all of my time writing and editing my script.

For my text, I decided to delve into Sherwood Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio” for my project. I chose “The Strength of God” because I thought the story, of a conflicted reverend tempted by an unsuspecting young woman, offered plenty of visuals to choose.

"The room in the bell tower of the church, where on Sunday mornings the minister prayed for an increase in him of the power of God, had but one window. It was long and narrow and swung outward on a hinge like a door. On the window, made of little leaded panes, was a design showing the Christ laying his hand upon the head of a child. One Sunday morning in the summer as he sat by his desk in the room with a large Bible opened before him, and the sheets of his sermon scattered about, the minister was shocked to see, in the upper room of the house next door, a woman lying in her bed and smoking a cigarette while she read a book."

For the screenplay, I decided to cut out the extra characters like George Willard, Elizabeth Swift, and Sarah Hartman, and just focus on the two main characters.

There’s only one line of dialogue in the screenplay, as I wanted to focus on the visual imagery such as hands, the stained glass window, main rooms in the story: the bedroom and the church study.

Let me know what you think of my draft, and I’ll try to read and offer my opinions on as many scripts as possible.